Drusillas Park East Sussex
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Drusillas Park, Alfriston, East Sussex, BN26 5QS
MONTHS OPEN
DAYS OPEN
AGE GROUPS SERVED
Listed under: Biology | Wildlife Parks | Conservation | Zoos | Storytelling | Special Educational Needs (SEN) | Outdoor Education | Ecology & Green Awareness | Environment Centres | Bird of Prey Centres | Animal Welfare | Day Trip Destinations | Science | Media | Leisure and Tourism | ICT | Geography | Environmental Studies | Business Studies
What we offer on a school trip
Drusillas Park contains over 75 animal species including monkeys, penguins, red pandas, sloths, flamingos and meerkats, as well walk-through lemur, lorikeet and bat / sloth enclosures. There are many educational interactives, a huge play area, safari train, Go Safari rides, an Adventure Maze, a Rainforest Carousel and Hello Kitty Secret Garden.
Drusillas offers a range of education sessions to pre-schools, primary schools and secondary / post-16 groups. Sessions offered include: Habitats & Adaptations, Tropical Rainforests, Minibeasts, Maasai Life, Animal Encounters, Conservation, Animal Care, Business Studies, Computing and Marketing. Most sessions involve animal encounters, last for 30 minutes and cost an additional £1.00 per pupil.
We offer talk and tours to secondary / post-16 groups; these are included in the entrance price.
What makes us a great choice for education?
Drusillas is an excellent venue for education visits; being a perfect blend of animals, attractions and play areas. Drusillas is primarily designed for children aged 11 and under, with low level viewing areas on enclosures, excellent animal visibility and a wide range of interactives. Drusillas has three walk-through enclosures (lemurs, bats & sloths and rainbow lorikeets) that allow groups to get extra close to the animals. There is also a Maasai area that includes a replica Maasai house and the award-winning Farmyard contains a life size milkable cow!
Drusillas education sessions use novel methods to explain concepts; for example, dressing up volunteers to demonstrate penguin and camel adaptations. Pupils can also handle a range of animal artefacts such as turtle shells, reptile skins and elephant tusks as well having the opportunity to stroke animals (e.g. snakes, lizards, rats, pygmy hedgehogs, cockroaches, chinchillas and millipedes).
Once the learning is done, the children can enjoy a huge play area with over an acre of slides, swings and climbable things. This includes Amazon Adventure; the soft indoor play area, Go Bananas!; an under-6 play area, and Go Wild! - a large outdoor play area.
Drusillas also has selection of rides including the Hippopotabus, The Rainforest Carousel and Flying Cheetahs!
What is typically included on our school trips?
Costs include entrance to the Park, the use of play areas and all rides.
We usually take groups of older students (Yr. 9 and above) on tours of the Park and a presentation is included in their price.
Group Sizes Catered For
We have a maximum allowance of 500 primary children per day.
We can accommodate up to about 40 students on tours at a time.
Materials, Resources & Information Provided
Drusillas provides general information on its animals and the Park, along with maps and health and safety information to all visiting groups. Teachers’ information brochures have also been developed to accompany each of the education session offered.
Post-14 students receive a selection of topic related brochures and handouts.
Pupils, students and teachers are also welcome to take our complimentary Zoolympics Trail and Animal Spotter booklets.
All literature has been written by our Head of Education, assisted by local teachers.
Photography, Filming & Audio Restrictions
Visitors are welcome to take photographs, videos or audio recording for their own use. We just ask that flashes are not used when taking photos of our animals in indoor areas.
If anyone wishes to take photos or recordings for commercial purposes, please contact Drusillas Marketing Department on 01323 874112.
Risk Assessment Details
Drusillas provides exemplar risk assessments for all visiting groups (this is also available on our website) and encourages teachers and leaders to make preliminary visits. Upon booking, group leaders are sent a preliminary visit voucher that admits two people free of charge.
Preliminary visits can also be arranged prior to booking by contacting Drusillas Education Department on 01323 874117 or by emailing education@drusillas.co.uk.
Pricing Information
Drusillas education prices for 2020 are as follows*:
Primary / SEN / pre-school - £7.99 entrance (£6.99 Jan, Feb, Oct, Nov and Dec)
Education sessions - £1 per child per session.
Free adult ratios: Primary - 1:6, Reception - 1:5, Pre-school - 1:3, SEN – 1:3 / discuss your needs.
Secondary / post-16 visits - £11.50 (including session).
1:10 free adult ratio.
*education prices apply term-time weekdays
Clothing Requirements
Drusillas has both indoor and outdoor areas, so we just recommend sensible clothing suited to the weather at the time of year.
Available Facilities
Four shops – children are always welcome to use them!
Four catering outlets - lunch box or hot meal ordering service available.
Parking (free of charge).
Large outdoor and undercover picnic areas.
Outdoor and indoor play areas.
Mungo’s Adventure Maze.
Get Wet! (splash pad).
Toilets and baby changing rooms (Changing Places toilet will be installed in 2020).
Wheelchairs available to hire.
Lockers (small charge applicable).
Accessibility & Disabled Facilities
Drusillas Zoo Route is fully wheelchair accessible and many enclosures feature low-level viewing, aiding visibility. Both the Safari Express train and Rainforest Carousel are designed to accommodate wheelchairs.
Most toilet blocks include disabled facilities and two rooms feature benches that can be used for changing adults. A Changing Places toilet will be installed in 2020. Car parking spaces for disabled visitors are available. A limited number of wheelchairs are available for use (advance booking is recommended).
Drusillas Education Department offers an Animal Encounters session for SEN groups that can be tailored to meet a group’s needs. James Woodward, Head of Education has over 17 years’ experience of working with visiting groups.
Opening Hours & Information
Drusillas is open 362 days per year, only closing Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Opening times are 10:00-18:00 summer (last admission at 17:00) and 10:00 – 17:00 winter (last admission at 16:00).
Testimonials
Feedback that has been sent directly to our Head of Education can be found below. For all other reviews please visit our Trip Advisor Page: https://tinyurl.com/drusillas-trip-advisor
- "Welcoming, pleasant and friendly. Very good with the children - altogether an enjoyable experience."
- “Fantastic session, we all enjoyed meeting the animals."
- "Wonderful info and perfectly accessible to our little ones!"
- "Fun, engaging and highly informative session."
- "Lovely way with the children, good range of animals, lots of information. Thank you."
- "Absolutely superb - extremely informative, fabulous with the children, good behaviour management. Thank you"
- "Very sensitive awareness of SEN children, good language use for understanding at a low level."
- "We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Drusillas. Your demonstrations and talk were extremely beneficial to the students and they have given us very positive feedback."
Other Information
Drusillas Park Education Department regularly holds Teachers Open Days, to receive notifications about these and other education news and offers, please email education@drusillas.co.uk.
Please also email or telephone 01323 874117 if you have any queries about our service, we’re always happy to help. Education sessions can always be created or tailored to meet a group’s needs.
Further details can also be found at http://www.drusillas.co.uk/education-at-drusillas
